From Mrs Ross

This week, the Pre-Prep were lucky to have some additional Year 8 Teaching Assistants. Thank you to Henry, Hector, Michael Z, Michael K, William and Freddie, who have worked very hard with the Pre-Prep boys and teachers. It was so lovely to see and hear collaborative teaching and learning, particularly between our youngest and eldest boys. My favourite moment involved Freddie and Michael's enthusiastic participation in a 'Dough Gym' session with Miss Whitmore, in the Reception Class! Our week culminated with an enjoyable and thought-provoking Cathedral Assembly with Canon Roly.  

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Pilgrims' Shell Awards

• Year 2 – to Alex L for his attention to detail when illustrating his postcard and his scrapbook page. Well done, Alex!
• Year 1 - to Leonardo - for persevering with a task that he was finding challenging
• Reception - to Dario, for reaching 100 aeroplane loops whilst showing great determination and focus in order to achieve the challenge that had been set!

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Diary dates

Diary dates	Times	The week ahead
Wednesday 15 March	1630	Pre-Prep Parents' Evening (booking now available on My School Portal)
Friday 17 March	all day	Red Nose Day - mufti - wear something red to school
Wednesday 22 March	pm	Christ Church School's team visit to lead Pre-Prep Assembly
Friday 24 March	1115-1145 1200	Celebration Assembly  Pre-Prep parents and families warmly invited End of term
Tuesday 18 April	0815-0830	Summer Term starts

 

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Notices

Menus - Please find a link to next week's menus here, on My School Portal. 

Message from the Head Nurse, Nicki Beaumont:

Reminder: we have boys with severe allergies to certain foods, and therefore have a policy whereby no food is to be brought into the school and/or given to boys at any time, especially at Sign-Out.
 

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From the PPA

 

 

Year 2

Following our visit to the Hawk Conservancy two weeks ago, the boys have written recounts of the day in the form of postcards. After the boys had handwritten their postcard beautifully in handwriting pens (which we have been using more and more this term), the boys took much care in illustrating the front with deliberation over the different birds they were planning to draw (see photo at top of newsletter.) The Hawk Conservancy Top Trump cards had to keep coming out for verification, of course! The odd cheeky game certainly was started mid-lesson!  

The boys decided who they wanted to send their postcard to, be it a family member or a staff member. This week has seen the delivery of these labours of love. Some lucky mummies and daddies have hopefully received theirs; one is thoughtfully off to a special Grandpa this weekend and various members of staff have gratefully had theirs delivered. Mrs Huntley is now of the view that she shall be taking her whole family to visit the Hawk Conservancy after reading Samuel and Darcy’s postcards to her. Mr Duncan got a blow-by-blow account of the whole day from Teddy W, Theo and Sahil when his were delivered. Mr Buck felt very proud that he was helping to create a new generation of nature lovers and, most certainly vulture lovers! Mrs Ford even received one to remind her of the brilliant day we all shared together. All the boys should be extremely proud of their efforts. There is nothing quite like getting a hand-written letter! 

Year 1

The Year boys have explored Portchester Castle near Fareham this week, and what a fabulous class trip this was!  We learnt about castle attacks and defences, we dressed as Kings, servants and guards, had a go at holding a real sword. Will even tried on a helmet whilst being an archer!  

It was very interesting to put our skills and knowledge to the test by identifying different parts of the castle.  The boys were able to locate both the inner and outer bailey, battlements, where the portcullis would have been, where the draw bridges would have been, the stone keep, the moats and even the arrow slit windows.  

It was also a real treat to have the castle to ourselves, so we were able to carefully climb the stone spiral staircase and wooden steps to the top floor of the keep.  Wow, what a spectacular view from here.  We even saw the Spinnaker Tower!  

What a great day out!  Now home for a warm brew!

Mrs Huntley
 

Reception

Reception boys were excited to have a 'big brother' figure to play with and learn from; for example, how to play one of their favourite games called the Rocket Game, in which they collect the loops, with the winner being the one with the most.

After listening to the story of Amelia Earhart, they were challenged to make their own aeroplane complete with 'loop the loops', whilst numbering each one. 

We have also been working on number bonds to 10. A quick and very easy game to play using your fingers is, Show Me; for example, if I have 4, how many do you show me to make 10?

Mrs Kent

Forest School 

Despite the wet, cold and snowy weather, the boys still managed to get outside for Forest School, albeit with slightly adapted sessions.

Be careful if you are visiting Elizabeth Mead this week, as you might find some rather unusual woodland creatures hiding in the area. Year R learned how they could use their imagination, natural items and a snowy, mud mixture to create some rather large and interesting woodland minibeasts. I was pleased with how the boys worked sensibly in small teams, and they also learned how to carry larger sticks. We also made some ‘Puddle Pets’ and took them for a very muddy walk with a lot of splashing!

We continued with our bird theme this week and chatted about how the birds will soon be thinking about building nests. With that understanding, Year 1 decided to have a go at building some giant nests; luckily for us it had snowed, so we even made some snow eggs ! They soon realised how much effort a bird needs to put in order to build the structure and then to make it nice and cosy.

After having a good look at themselves in mirror the boys in Year 2 had a go at creating a natural self-portrait of themselves using natural resources within a stick picture frame. When the art gallery was officially opened, we had fun trying to spot who was who and I was impressed with some of the attention to detail!